Grand Rapids Police Lt. Pat Dean, head of the department's special services unit, estimated the opening day of ArtPrize 2013 may have been the busiest in the five-year history of the event created by social media entrepreneur Rick DeVos.

On Twitter this morning, DeVos said, "Fifth year and this whole thing still amazes me. Thanks to all the artists, venues, sponsors, and everyone else who makes ArtPrize possible."

Meanwhile, here's what other news organizations outside of Grand Rapids have been saying about ArtPrize 2013 in the past 24 hours.

• From the Detroit News, via the Associated Press:

The fifth installment of the annual ArtPrize international art competition is getting under way in Grand Rapids, and organizers are working to open up more opportunities for artists to boost their careers.

Downtown streets had been slowly filling all morning, but as the clock struck 12, visitors who had been waiting in the growing line under gorgeous sunshine outside the Grand Rapids Museum of Art began to stream through the gates. They were there, of course, for art — and to participate in the public voting that will award hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money in the most lucrative and democratically open art competition in the world.

• On Babble.com, Casey Mullins, based in Indiana, talks about her first near-encounter with ArtPrize earlier this week:

First of all, I’m ticked I had to leave before ArtPrize officially kicks off this Wednesday and, secondly, I can’t believe I’ve lived in Indiana all this time and have never been.

Mullins concludes, ArtPrize really is art for everyone. It isn’t stuffy, it isn’t snooty, it’s accessible, exciting, creative, and real. If you’re within driving distance, it’s a must see, and certainly worth working into your schedule in subsequent years.